By AppleInsider Staff
Published: 05:00 PM EST (02:00 PM PST)
Apple on Tuesday updated its Boot Camp software and issued new drivers and utilities to allow users to run Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 7. The Mac maker also issued its first security update of 2010, addressing 12 vulnerabilities.
The Boot Camp software was updated to version 3.1 for both
32-bit and
64-bit users of Windows 7. The updates add native support for the Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate versions of Windows 7.
In addition, Boot Camp Software Update 3.1 for Windows addresses issues with the Apple trackpad, turns off the red digital audio port LED on laptop computers when it is not being used, and supports the Apple wireless keyboard and Apple Magic Mouse. The 32-bit version is 380.73MB, while the 64-bit update is 274.58MB. The software requires either Windows XP or Windows Vista SP2 before installing Windows 7.
To further support the Microsoft OS, system-specific drivers are available. Those with the new late 2009 iMac, both 21.5-inch and 27-inch models, can download the
iMac Late 2009 Windows 7 Drivers, while iMac and Mac Pro users can use the
Graphics Firmware Update 1.0 update for compatibility.
Finally, Apple has also released the
Boot Camp Utility for Windows 7 Upgrade, which safely unmounts the read-only Macintosh volume on Microsoft Windows Vista. The utility must be used before upgrading from Vista to Windows 7.
Also Tuesday, the first security updates of 2010 for Snow Leopard and Leopard were released. Security Update 2010-001 is recommended for all users of Mac OS X, and it addresses a number of potentially dangerous security issues.
The updates are available for
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (21.90MB),
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Server (248.11MB), and
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Client (159.58MB). They can also be downloaded via Software Update.
The vulnerabilities addressed in the update, according to Apple, include CoreAudio, the Flash Player plug-in, OpenSSL, Image RAW, and Image IO.
